2014 Chevrolet CamaroZ28 033
1964 Chevrolet Camaro Panther
1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 2
1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 alternate
Charles May5 Aug 2017
FEATURE

Top five Chevrolet Camaros ever

We list our five favourite Camaros as iconic American muscle car celebrates its 50th anniversary

No genre has captured the automotive enthusiast’s imagination more completely – or patriotically – as the American muscle car.

While various Italian exotica were the unattainable dream for all but the most well-heeled, the development of big V8s in post-war America opened up incredible performance to the masses.

The long-defunct, GM-owned Oldsmobile brand is widely credited with kick-starting the muscle car era by installing its new 5.0-litre (304 cubic-inch) V8 into its small ‘A-body’ offering for the 1949 model year.

The consequent Oldsmobile ‘Rocket 88’ reportedly weighed up to 160kg less than the larger ‘C-body’ Series 90 it shared the 100kW engine with and it won six of the nine NASCAR races it was entered in that year.

It was a formula quickly emulated by other brands, to the point that by 1964 Americans could buy monstrous 7.0-litre V8s packing 317kW and 650Nm off the showroom floor.

For context, the hottest local Holden product for ’64 was the EH. It was powered by a 2.9-litre (179 cubic-inch) six-pot generating 86kW/237Nm…

With these massive big-blocks permeating model ranges, size (and expense) inevitably grew. It was Ford that spotted the next niche… one that still has profound impact in the muscle car world today.

The Mustang was targeted at the younger demographic with immense style as standard. Smaller and lighter than its bigger brothers, its genius was in its all-encompassing appeal.

1969 Chevrolet Camaro Indy pace car

Consigning Henry Ford’s overused quote on colour choice to history, the Mustang was all about personalisation; from the humble 2.8-litre (170 cubic-inch) six-cylinder to the high-performance 4.7-litre (289 cubic-inch) V8, there was a Mustang to suit your choice of colour, trim and roadside cachet.

Proof was in production: For the Mustang’s first full model year in 1965, Mustang sales read 501,965 Coupes, 101,945 Convertibles and 77,079 Hardtops.

General Motors, until then focused on the Corvette sports car, was forced into a quick response, simply to catch a slice of this next-generation car buyer. The result was to become a legendary ‘Pony Car’ in its own right, lifting the Ford-GM rivalry to new levels of intensity on road and track.

From Panther to Camaro
In the second-half of 1964 Chevrolet’s ‘Panther’ prototype began to take shape, complete with small leaping panther badging. Was it jumping towards a horse?

During this phase it was determined the Panther would debut what was to become a legendary Chevrolet engine: the 5.7-litre ‘350’, and the final design concepts looked remarkably like the production Camaro.

The name – falling in line with Chevrolet’s process of starting model names with a ‘C’ – was formally announced via a media telephone conference on June 28, 1966, for the 1967 model year.

Three months later, on September 29, the model was officially unveiled. The long-bonnet, two-door, 2+2-seat configuration and short rear-end aped the Mustang template, but Camaro’s coke-bottle styled ‘hips’ lent the Chevrolet a unique, muscular stance.

1964 Chevrolet Camaro Panther

Backing up this look was the availability of a Chevrolet ‘big-block’ V8 displacing 6.5 litres (396 cubic-inches), stealing a march on the 4.7-litre unit that was the Mustang’s trademark.

The real GM genius, however, was that the sexy shape could be had with a wheezy 104kW inline six-cylinder engine for only $US2500, giving young enthusiasts a chance to own the image without breaking the bank.

Both Coupe and Convertible body styles were offered with a choice of two six-pots, five V8s, three- or four-speed manuals and two- or three-speed automatic transmissions.

Eight interior trim colours, 15 exterior hues, three convertible top colours, two optional vinyl roof finishes and an options list longer than your arm ensured owners had no complaints about personalisation.

In terms of raw stats, Chevrolet produced 220,906 Camaros for 1967, compared with Mustang’s massive 559,451. Indeed, it would take until 1977 before the Chevrolet – by then well into its second-generation – could claim number one in the pony car war with 218,853 sales against the ill-fated Mustang II’s 153,173.

In the ensuing 50 years the Camaro has seen it all, from providing Indianapolis 500 pace car duties eight times to being killed off altogether from 2002-2010.

Sales peaked at 282,571 in 1979, base model prices have risen 10 times from $US2500 to $US25,905 for a current sixth-generation Camaro 1LS, powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with 205kW; nearly double the original output.

For Australians, the Camaro has always been admired from afar, with the exception of Bob Jane’s 1970s Australian Touring Car exploits or Kevin Bartlett’s third-generation Camaro assault on Bathurst in the 1980s.

Not being available in factory right-hand drive hasn’t stopped several professional conversion companies from importing and converting Camaros for a pretty penny, while less restrictive classic car laws have opened the door to those over 30 years old being registerable in original form.

With persistent rumours of right-hand drive factory production coming with the seventh-generation, many Aussies may yet live the dream of purchasing a new Camaro off a Holden showroom floor yet.

Indeed, while locally-converted Camaros have long been available here from a variety of aftermarket Aussie workshops, this week’s news that the Walkinshaw Group will produce a RHD version of next year’s facelifted Mk6 Camaro could see them drive one away from their local HSV dealer even sooner.

So without further ado, here are the five most important Camaros of the past five decades, as voted by mototring.com.au.

1960s Chevrolet Camaro Poster

1967 Camaro Z/28
The classic Chevrolet world is full of ‘Regular Production Option’ codes. Some (such as A67- folding rear seat) have long been forgotten, but RPO Z28 is altogether more evocative.

Trans-Am circuit racing was booming by 1967, and Chevrolet wanted to get in on the act with its new pony car. Rules stipulated the vehicle had to be available to the public, with a capacity limit of 5.0 litres.

To that point, the 4.7-litre Mustangs had largely dominated Trans-Am, but this time The General got the jump with the Camaro Z/28.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Cleverly, Chevrolet mounted the forged crankshaft from its 4.6-litre V8 into its big-bore 5.4-litre engine to come up with the unique 4.95-litre (302 cubic-inch) V8 that slotted sweetly into the Camaro’s engine bay.

Designed for sustained bouts of 7000rpm on the circuit, the street Z/28 was rated at ‘only’ 216kW but it was the complete package with mandatory four-speed manual, power front disc brakes, specific suspension, heavy-duty cooling system, quicker steering, short 3.73 final drive and 15x7.0-inch wheels.

Thus equipped, the legendary Mark Donohue drove Roger Penske’s Camaro Z/28 to victory by a clear lap in the 1967 season finale, before dominating the championship in 1968 and 1969.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 2

1969 Camaro ‘COPO’ ZL-1
When the Camaro debuted in 1967, GM had a ban on its intermediate vehicle range having an engine greater than 400 cubic-inches (6.55 litres) in capacity.

From 1967, an enterprising Pennsylvanian dealer Don Yenko would side-step this by ordering 6.5-litre (396 cubic-inch) ‘big-block’ Camaros then flinging them in favour of heavy-duty 7.0-litre (427cubic-inch) versions that would normally see service in full-size Chevys and Corvettes. The so-called Yenko Super Camaro produced some 336kW.

Chevrolet rewarded this enterprise by formalising a deal with Yenko and others, to factory-equip 1969 Camaros with the ‘427’ via the Central Office Production Order process. Imagine a system like this today…

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

To ensure the Mustang no longer showed up the Camaro on drag strips, Chevrolet also built the ultimate collector Camaro: COPO 9560, better known as the ZL-1.

Only 69 1969 ZL-1 Camaros were built, the package costing an additional $US3950 at a time when a base V8 Camaro set you back $US2700. The steep price bought a lightweight, all-aluminium version of the ‘427’ that weighed substantially less than its iron-block Dodge and Ford competition at the drag strip.

Officially rated at 321kW – less on paper than the triple two-barrel, 324kW iron 427 found in the highest-rated Corvettes – these ZL-1 engines produced nearer 410kW ex-factory.

1985 Z28 ‘IROC-Z’
With a nod to the 1970 Z28 (second-generation body and a 268kW 5.7-litre V8 with handling closer to European standards than ever), the eight Indy pace car specials and the third-generation’s 1982 upgrades that introduced fuel-injection and modernised lightweight construction, the next truly significant performance Camaro debuted in 1985.

An additional package for the Z28, the IROC-Z was named after the famous International Race Of Champions series, in which the Camaro had been used since 1974.

1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC Z

The top IROC-Z sported a fuel-injected 5.0-litre (305 cubic-inch) V8 producing 160kW, though oddly this top-spec motor could only be had with a four-speed automatic; those after a third pedal could have a five-speed mated to a 142kW, carburettor version of the ‘305’.

Riding on wide 16x8.0-inch, five-spoke alloys with 245-section Goodyear Eagle rubber, the real work was focused on matching dynamics to the wheel/tyre package.

Revised geometry worked with specifically-tuned dampers (the rears by Delco-Bilstein), thicker anti-roll bars, lowered ride height and additional bracing designed to improve rigidity and steering response.

1985 Chevrolet Camaro IROC Z 2

1994 ZL1 prototype
In 2017, the Camaro is once more rightly known as a serious performance car… and the 1994 ZL1 prototype can be seen as a catalyst for this.

Firstly, it resurrected the most famous option code of Camaro’s history, but more importantly it returned a big-block V8 under the pony car’s bonnet.

Based on the sleek fourth-generation, the ZL1 was conceived under the influential eye of Jon Moss, who at the time managed an internal ‘Specialty Vehicles Group’ affectionately known as the ‘Toy Box’.

Further acknowledging the original, Moss equipped the ZL1 with an all-aluminium engine, displacing a monstrous 9.4 litres (572 cubic-inches).

Paired to a heavy-duty five-speed manual and racing clutch, the ZL1 produced 575kW and 925Nm and scorched the quarter-mile in 11 seconds dead.

1994 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

The suspension was also tuned and the Camaro could allegedly turn corners… provided the road was dry, and you were in fourth gear before you squeezed the throttle.

A massive Bow Tie statement, the ZL1 also reignited the Camaro-Mustang war, Ford’s own experimental division building a 10.0-litre Mustang in response and the two duking it out on dragstrips across America.

While never intended to see the public road, this Camaro ‘toy’ opened GM’s eyes to the possibility that maybe – in future – a street Camaro big-block could again make sense.

2014 Z/28
For generations the Euro-centric standard has been that American cars are all about straight lines. While there have been several noble attempts to rectify this with the Camaro, it was the legendary 2014 iteration of the Z/28 (note the slash, returning after a 44-year hiatus) that really proved the Chevy’s all-round ability.

Sure, it had grunt – a dry-sump 7.0-litre naturally-aspirated V8 producing 377kW and 632Nm saw to that – but the six-speed only Z/28 proved also to be a circuit terror with its downforce-producing aerodynamics and weight saving measures that trimmed some 136kg over the supercharged Camaro ZL1.

2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Brembo supplied massive carbon-ceramic brakes with race-tuned ABS, Pirelli the track-friendly 305-section Trofeo R rubber, and the Z/28 was timed at 7:37 for a lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. For reference, an all-wheel drive 997-series Porsche 997 Turbo completed the lap in 7:38.

Because it was based on the fifth-generation (2010-2015) Camaro, which was replaced last year by the current Mk6 based on Cadillac’s Alpha platform, it was underpinned by the same Australian-developed Zeta platform that forms the basis of Holden’s last homegrown Commodore.

2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 2

The eloquent Mark Reuss, President of GM North America and a former GM Holden chief, said:

“As the ultimate track-capable Camaro, this car restores the mission of the original Z/28, and serves as a testament to the expertise of Chevrolet as the best-selling brand of performance cars.

“This car could only come from Chevrolet, and could only be called the Z/28."

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Written byCharles May
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